Support of the Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer to the reading rooms and to the people’s movement in Istria (Material kept by the Diocesan Archives in Ðakovo)

Abstract

Based on the information obtained from the material kept by the Diocesan Archives in Ðakovo, this paper analyses the support (both material and immaterial) provided systematically and deliberately by Bishop J. J. Strossmayer to the people’s reading-room movement in Istria. The point of departure of the analysis could not be but the questioning of the social and political context of Istria at the turn of the 20th century, but also the personal acquaintanceship of Bishop J. Dobrila with Bishop J.J. Strossmayer from their student days at the Viennese Augustineum. However, such basic and contextual questioning was widened to include a presentation, analysis and questioning of archival information on the support provided by Strossmayer both to people’s reading rooms throughout Yugoslavia and to those in Istria. This Strossmayer’s support for the activities of people’s reading rooms was reflected in a continuous policy, but also in an active monitoring of their work, financial reports and achieved goals. In the paper special attention was paid to Strossmayer’s credits for the operation of pupil’s scholarship foundations in Istria, which were largely supported by him, to the Reading Room at Sveti Petar u Šumi, other people’s reading rooms in Istria, and also to a particular closeness between the Diocese of Đakovo and the people’s movement in Istria.